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60th PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando proves a worthwhile stop

From its humble beginnings in a parking lot in the Tampa suburb of Dunedin in the early 1950s to now, the PGA Merchandise Show has grown from a quirky novelty to a mass undertaking that annually attracts hundreds of thousands to see what’s new in the world of golf.

This year’s 60th renewal wraps up today in the massive West concourse of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Having spent the last three days both there and at Demo Day at the Orange County National Golf Center some 30 miles west of the city, here are our takaways from our first visit to the extravaganza:

— Golf Channel has a lot to be excited about. In announcing a new ap for tablets and I-phones that is geared mostly toward instruction and lessons for players, Golf Channel officials stated their network is growing the fastest of any in sports, that last year was its most-watched ever and that page views at golfchannel.com were up more than 100 percent from the year before. The Golf Channel Academy ap is free and offers free instruction, with an option of golfers being able to download video of their swings and, for $29.99, or the price of a very inexpensive lesson, having Golf Channel pros analyze and discuss how to improve. Whether or not the lesson option takes off, the free ap is a must-have for every golfer who wants to improve his game.

— A dozen or more pros from the PGA Tour skipped the weekend stop at Torrey Pines to make appearances in one form or another. Davis Love III helped open the show, Lee Westwood and Zach Johnson gave a one-hour presentation to Titleist staff on Thursday’s release of the new ProV1 and ProV1X balls, and perhaps most intriguingly, several pros including last week’s winner at Tucson, Brian Gay, stopped by the KitchenAid area to do some cooking on behalf of the PGA Tour Wives, who were promoting a new book entitled “Fairways and Greens,” the greens being the kind that help comprise a salad. No one had more fun on stage that Hobe Sound resident Freddie Jacobson, who whipped up a batch of the same pancakes he feeds his kids whenever he’s at his home on The Medalist course.

— Three weeks into this beat and we’re learning things almost every day. One we learned this week is not to ask PGA Tour pros about the problems others are experiencing. We figured Rory McIlroy’s latest struggles after dumping Titleist for Nike would be a hot topic, but the handful of Tour players we approached didn’t want to get into it. “I’ve been with Ping for 27 years, so I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Westwood said. We also learned that just because Tour pros are hanging out at such an event doesn’t mean they’re interested in talking to a newby golf writer they don’t know. Nearly 24 hours of chasing Ian Poulter ended when his Cobra PR guy informed me, “He’s not going to do any media this week.” Might have been wary of saying something outrageous, which he’s often done in the past.

— Never made it over to the apparel section that comprises nearly half the floor space at the massive show, but did spend a fair amount of time bouncing around various venues that ranged from massive (Cobra/Puma and Titleist to name two) to perhaps 50 square feet, with most of the latter being in the new products area. Met a number of people with Palm Beach connections including Andrew Levine, who grew up alongside the Palm Beach Par-3 course and was marketing Sunscreen Bands that change color when you need to either reapply sunscreen or head indoors, and Matt Zuzik, a Jupiter resident who has invented the Golf Square, which golfers can use to determine their correct alignment, one of the keys to playing better, more consistent golf.

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